Women’s Rugby Grand Championship Results – 3 March, 2018

Premiership

Gai Wu Falcons 63-0 Tai Po Dragons
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 16:30

Valley Black 17-10 USRC Tigers
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 16:30

National League 1

Gai Wu Fawkes 0-15 HK Scottish Kukris
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 15:00

Valley Red 5-22 Revolution SRC
@ KG V, Kick-off: 18:00

National League 2

Police Sirens 29-14 HKFC Fire
@ Police Boundary Street, Kick-off: 18:00

CWB Lammergeier 10-0 Kowloon
@ So Kon Po, Kick-off: 18:00

Images: hkru, scaa

It’s Grand Championship Semi-Finals Weekend

Valley Black continue their defence of the Women’s Premiership Grand Championship with a semi-final against USRC Tigers. In the other semi-final, league champions Gai Wu Falcons take on Tai Po Dragons.

Bella Milo, Valley’s player-coach, is keen to see her side playing again, after a long break, but is clearly hopeful that her charges are on track for yet another appearance in the final.

“It’s the most exciting time of the year, the Grand Championships are the big test – the pinnacle of club rugby. We’re all a little bit nervous and excited at the same time. Going into this match with Tigers with so little recent match time is not ideal, but we’ve had a couple of good training sessions that have given us a little bit of confidence,” she said.

“Our last game against Tigers was high quality and high scoring, and we’re expecting something similar this time. That was a fast running game, and likely this will be too, so whoever has the most ball will probably win. We held on to possession well then, and if we repeat that we can make it through to the final,”notes Milo.

Milo and her team have done their homework on Tigers, and pinpointed Lara Schats as a threat they need shut down. Tigers don’t always have great continuity, she says, and is confident if her side hold up their level of play, they will make another final appearance.

With Shan Pong and Stephanie Cuvelier away, Kelsie Bouttle at school in Australia, and Rebecca Thomson out with a fractured cheekbone sustained in training – all in addition to several players missing since Christmas, and  Valley’s second team also in semi-final action this weekend – Milo will have slim bench of only four forwards and one back.

The Tigers go into the match buoyed by last week’s solid quarter-final win over Causeway Bay Phoenix, and while coach Fan Shun Kei is in no doubt that Valley will provide stiffer opposition, he takes confidence from the encounters between the two sides earlier in the season.

“We played them twice this year, and did quite well. Our attack is looking really good this year, we just need to keep on doing in attack what we did in that last game, when we have the ball. We’ll use our speed out wide, and try to force penalties by putting them under pressure,” said Fan.

“It will be a bonus if we can get into the final. Valley are strong and skillful, with special threats in Bella and Aroha Savage. Gai Wu have beaten Valley, so we know they can be undone. So our focus has to be on defence and tackling. I want our players to believe in themselves and go firmly into one-on-one tackles, a bit more aggressive,” he added.

Like Valley, Tigers have to work with some absences from their ideal squad, including veteran Lindsay Varty and captain Jessica Ho. Fan has called on the services of second-team flanker Maylynn Ng, who has featured before but never started, aiming to strengthen ball carrying and defending. Lai Pou Fan will move to No. 9 from her usual full back.

Additional reporting and images: HKRU

Women’s Rugby Grand Championship Semi-final Fixtures – 3 March, 2018

Women’s Rugby Grand Championship Results – 24 February, 2018

Premiership

Gai Wu Falcons 84-0 City Sparkle
@ KG V, Kick-off: 16:30

USRC Tigers 66-0 CWB Phoenix
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 16:30

HKFC Ice 19-25 Tai Po Dragons
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 16:30

Valley Black 20-0 Kowloon
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 18:00

National League 1

Valley Red 19-14 USRC Tigers
@ Happy Valley, Kick-off: 13:00

 Gai Wu Fawkes 86-0 HKCC
@ KG V, Kick-off: 18:00

HK Scottish Kukris 44-0 Tai Po Dragons
@ Shek Kip Mei, Kick-off: 18:00

​National League 2

Kowloon v Gai Wu Hawks
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 15:00

Police Sirens 20-0 University
@ Police Boundary Street, Kick-off: 18:00

CWB Lammergeier 20-0 City Twinkles
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 18:00

HKFC Fire 19-0 Tin Shui Wai
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:00

Images: Takumi Photography

Women’s Rugby Fixtures – 24 February, 2018

Women’s Rugby: Kicking

We don’t get to see much high quality women’s rugby in Hong Kong, live or on television, so as a local rugby player it was fascinating to watch how play developed in the England v Wales Six Nation’s match.

As part of my watching brief bc magazine asked me to look for areas where we can improve locally. At the 2017 Rugby World Cup, much was made of the number of missed conversion and penalty kicks – and this applies to many teams locally. On the strength of England v Wales, it is an area which can benefit from close attention.

England’s Daley-McLean’s grubber kick through for Burford’s try was only one of a number of perfectly executed footballing moments, both from hand and place kicking. Elinor Snowsill on the Wales’ team had no opportunities to kick for goal, but she looked comfortable kicking out of hand.

Some of the most intelligent play came in preparation for receiving kicks; in the 36th minute Daley-McLean anticipated a long kick out to touch, and placed herself perfectly to bat it back into field at full stretch, giving England a fresh attacking platform.

There were also a number of charge downs: two of the England number 10’s kicks were tipped off course and a third charged down behind her, leading to one of Wales’ few try scoring opportunities before England recovered.

Look to improve kicking and catching skills:

– practice your catching stance. Getting the body in the right position is half the challenge; and it’s a basic skill.

– practice after main training is finished. Find a partner who will kick to you, and put you under pressure when catching, especially when you’re already tired.

– There’s no need be scared of the ball – it will bounce off you!

Image: courtesy of England women’s rugby

Women’s Rugby Results – 10 February, 2018

National League 1

USRC Tigers 34-5 Tai Po Dragons
@ King’s Park, Kick-off: 16:30

Gai Wu Fawkes 15-17 Revolution SRC
@ KG V, Kick-off: 16:30

HKCC 5-31 HK Scottish Kukris
@ Aberdeen, Kick-off: 18:00

National League 2

Gai Wu Hawks 29-31 Kowloon
@ KG V, Kick-off: 15:00

Tin Shui Wai 17-12 City Twinkles
@ Tin Shui Wai, Kick-off: 16:30

HKFC Fire 12-44 CWB Lammergeier
@ HK Football Club, Kick-off: 18:00

Police Sirens 103-0 University
@ Police Boundary Street, Kick-off: 18:00

Images: bc magazine,

Women’s Rugby Fixtures – 10 February, 2018